Hello and welcome to a lovely Mixtape Monday. I have a review of a very popular album by a band called The Beatles, maybe you've heard of them. Also I have a mixtape for these the hot, humid, August summer days. It's perfect for this day.
Album Review
White Album
This album is a behemoth; thirty tracks, two LPs and/or CDs, and over an hour and a half of solid music. This album is my personal favorite of The Beatles discography. It starts out on a driving note "Back in the USSR" is a great opener to a great album. This transitions over to the ethereal "Dear Prudence" which begins with a greatguitar intro done by Mr. John Lennon. This is the type of song which I like to call a "builder." A song which starts out light and gets more intense as it goes on; continuing on to the next tune on the album, "Glass Onion" which is one of my favorite tunes on this disc. The bass groove on this album behind Lennon's cryptic lyrics, speaking of the songs in the Beatles catologue. This song goes into a ridiculous pair of tunes by McCartney, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" which incidentally is the only Beatles tune which my grandfather knew the chorus to, and "Wild Honey Pie" a freaked-out precursor to the actual song that comes later. In this album there is the most distinct differences in the songs written by each Beatle; John, George, Paul, and Ringo all have songs on this album, and each have a very different and distinct flavor. The next 6 songs in the album are sone of the best series of songs on the album, which blend so well. "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" is a great story song, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is an amazing George Harrison tune, followed by "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." This song has the strong raw flavor of Lennon, in three sections. The first part of the song carries not a story-like style, but almost a description of a picture. This goes into the descriptor speaking directly to you talking about the fox they need, into the ridiculous chorus section of the song. Finally, after that amazing song comes my favorite song on this disc of the album "Martha My Dear," an amazing McCartney tune. With its jaunty piano intro to the section wherePaul sings, "Take a good look about you. Take a good look, you're bound to see; that you and me, were meant to be for each other, silly girl." Probably the best 15 bars yet in the album. Following this is a great John tune, "I'm So Tired" which my mom used to sing to me when I was a baby and wouldn't go to sleep. Now one of my favorite tunes, which follows a very odd progression, A G#7 D E A f#m D E A G#Aug f#m dm, or I VII7 IV V I vi IV V I VII+ vi iv numerically. This is followed by another, extremely popular tune by Paul, "Blackbird" which folds in with a great solo guitar accompanyment. This is mirrored by Lennon's tune which is the last track of this disc, "Julia" in my opinion, the better of the two. The rest of the first disc has some good tunes, but nothing worth the discussion, save "Rocky Raccoon" which is a great story song.
Next disc; starting off with a joint effort of John and Paul, "Birthday" once again showing the uptempo start of the disc which is now the fashion in this album by this repetition. Into one of the most intense John tunes with the Beatles, "Yer Blues" which John belts his lyrics out with a growling scream which gives me chills every time I hear it. Into "Mother Nature's Son" a nice Paul ramblin' tune. Into the fun and uptempo Lennon tune "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" followed by one of the sadder tunes "Sexy Sadie" which John uses to tell people about the maharishi. Finally, we get to the oddest/most amazing tune on this disc, a Paul tune which shows off the Beatles ability to rock out real heavy for a 60's pop band; I am talking of course, about "Helter Skelter." This song rips through its progression and has Paul screaming through the lyrics like he's trying to rip his vocal chords apart. This emotional explosion it offset by the almost chilling song, "Long, Long, Long." This starts out with a triplet oriented guitar line and ends with glasses on a Leslie speaker cabinet and moaning. Next we venture into the 3 main Beatles songwriters 3 different styles in succession. "Revolution 1" is John Lennon's pollitical rebellion tune. "Honey Pie" is Paul's sweet, throwback-pop standard tune. "Savoy Truffle" my personal favorite on this whole album; a great tune about something simple. These 3 songs highlight the 3 different tastes and songwriting styles in this supergroup. "Cry Baby Cry" is a great picturesque song by Lennon, followed by the monstrosity of a track, "Revolution 9" which I abhor. FInishing up the album is "Good Night" a sub-par Ringo tune.
In looking at this album, what is to be considered is that the good tunes are ridiculously good; and the bad tunes, are still good by the present standards. This album only has two misses for me. "Revolution 9" and "Good Night" are the black sheep for me. So if you want to enjoy this album to its fullest, stop after "Cry Baby Cry"
9.5/10
Mixtape For A Hot August Day:
1. Pachuca Sunrise - Minus The Bear (Menos El Oso)
2. Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear (Veckatimest)
3. 100 Degrees - Shout Out Louds (Howl Howl Gaff Gaff)
4. Don't You Evah - Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
5. Shoulda Known - Atmosphere (When Lofe Gives You Lemons, you Paint That Shit Gold)
6. No Phone - Cake (Pressure Chief)
7. U.R.A. Fever - The Kills (Midnight Boom)
8. Earthquake Weather - Beck (Guero)
9.60 Feet Tall - The Dead Weather (Horehound)
10. Volcano - Beck (Modern Guilt)
11. The Moon - The Microphones (The Glow Part 2)
12. Cold Wind - The Arcade Fire (Six Feet Under OST)
The idea of this mix is that you want to get things done in the beginning of the day/mixtape before the haze starts to set in, which doesn't subside until the middle of the night after sunset. I hope you enjoy it.
Until next time.
Album Review
White Album
This album is a behemoth; thirty tracks, two LPs and/or CDs, and over an hour and a half of solid music. This album is my personal favorite of The Beatles discography. It starts out on a driving note "Back in the USSR" is a great opener to a great album. This transitions over to the ethereal "Dear Prudence" which begins with a greatguitar intro done by Mr. John Lennon. This is the type of song which I like to call a "builder." A song which starts out light and gets more intense as it goes on; continuing on to the next tune on the album, "Glass Onion" which is one of my favorite tunes on this disc. The bass groove on this album behind Lennon's cryptic lyrics, speaking of the songs in the Beatles catologue. This song goes into a ridiculous pair of tunes by McCartney, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" which incidentally is the only Beatles tune which my grandfather knew the chorus to, and "Wild Honey Pie" a freaked-out precursor to the actual song that comes later. In this album there is the most distinct differences in the songs written by each Beatle; John, George, Paul, and Ringo all have songs on this album, and each have a very different and distinct flavor. The next 6 songs in the album are sone of the best series of songs on the album, which blend so well. "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" is a great story song, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is an amazing George Harrison tune, followed by "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." This song has the strong raw flavor of Lennon, in three sections. The first part of the song carries not a story-like style, but almost a description of a picture. This goes into the descriptor speaking directly to you talking about the fox they need, into the ridiculous chorus section of the song. Finally, after that amazing song comes my favorite song on this disc of the album "Martha My Dear," an amazing McCartney tune. With its jaunty piano intro to the section wherePaul sings, "Take a good look about you. Take a good look, you're bound to see; that you and me, were meant to be for each other, silly girl." Probably the best 15 bars yet in the album. Following this is a great John tune, "I'm So Tired" which my mom used to sing to me when I was a baby and wouldn't go to sleep. Now one of my favorite tunes, which follows a very odd progression, A G#7 D E A f#m D E A G#Aug f#m dm, or I VII7 IV V I vi IV V I VII+ vi iv numerically. This is followed by another, extremely popular tune by Paul, "Blackbird" which folds in with a great solo guitar accompanyment. This is mirrored by Lennon's tune which is the last track of this disc, "Julia" in my opinion, the better of the two. The rest of the first disc has some good tunes, but nothing worth the discussion, save "Rocky Raccoon" which is a great story song.
Next disc; starting off with a joint effort of John and Paul, "Birthday" once again showing the uptempo start of the disc which is now the fashion in this album by this repetition. Into one of the most intense John tunes with the Beatles, "Yer Blues" which John belts his lyrics out with a growling scream which gives me chills every time I hear it. Into "Mother Nature's Son" a nice Paul ramblin' tune. Into the fun and uptempo Lennon tune "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" followed by one of the sadder tunes "Sexy Sadie" which John uses to tell people about the maharishi. Finally, we get to the oddest/most amazing tune on this disc, a Paul tune which shows off the Beatles ability to rock out real heavy for a 60's pop band; I am talking of course, about "Helter Skelter." This song rips through its progression and has Paul screaming through the lyrics like he's trying to rip his vocal chords apart. This emotional explosion it offset by the almost chilling song, "Long, Long, Long." This starts out with a triplet oriented guitar line and ends with glasses on a Leslie speaker cabinet and moaning. Next we venture into the 3 main Beatles songwriters 3 different styles in succession. "Revolution 1" is John Lennon's pollitical rebellion tune. "Honey Pie" is Paul's sweet, throwback-pop standard tune. "Savoy Truffle" my personal favorite on this whole album; a great tune about something simple. These 3 songs highlight the 3 different tastes and songwriting styles in this supergroup. "Cry Baby Cry" is a great picturesque song by Lennon, followed by the monstrosity of a track, "Revolution 9" which I abhor. FInishing up the album is "Good Night" a sub-par Ringo tune.
In looking at this album, what is to be considered is that the good tunes are ridiculously good; and the bad tunes, are still good by the present standards. This album only has two misses for me. "Revolution 9" and "Good Night" are the black sheep for me. So if you want to enjoy this album to its fullest, stop after "Cry Baby Cry"
9.5/10
Mixtape For A Hot August Day:
1. Pachuca Sunrise - Minus The Bear (Menos El Oso)
2. Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear (Veckatimest)
3. 100 Degrees - Shout Out Louds (Howl Howl Gaff Gaff)
4. Don't You Evah - Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
5. Shoulda Known - Atmosphere (When Lofe Gives You Lemons, you Paint That Shit Gold)
6. No Phone - Cake (Pressure Chief)
7. U.R.A. Fever - The Kills (Midnight Boom)
8. Earthquake Weather - Beck (Guero)
9.60 Feet Tall - The Dead Weather (Horehound)
10. Volcano - Beck (Modern Guilt)
11. The Moon - The Microphones (The Glow Part 2)
12. Cold Wind - The Arcade Fire (Six Feet Under OST)
The idea of this mix is that you want to get things done in the beginning of the day/mixtape before the haze starts to set in, which doesn't subside until the middle of the night after sunset. I hope you enjoy it.
Until next time.
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